Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Maale Adumim today to attend a signing ceremony for a framework agreement, aiming to speed up development in Maale Adumim and the adjacent E1 area.
Framework agreements between the government and municipalities are intended to ensure the marketing of thousands of housing units on an expedited timetable (“marketing” is the Israeli terminology for the allocation of land and units for development, usually by publishing tenders). Under such agreements, the government commits in advance to fund the necessary development and infrastructure. At the same time, the municipality pledges to issue building permits to developers within a short and fixed period.
According to a statement released by the Housing Ministry, the framework agreement with Maale Adumim includes a government commitment to invest 3 billion shekels in infrastructure for the construction of 7,600 housing units, of which about 3,400 are in E1.
Peace Now: “This agreement will cost Israel far more than 3 billion shekels. In the end, Israel will be forced to evacuate everything built in E1, because construction in E1 blocks the only solution that can guarantee Israel’s future: the two state solution. The ostentatious signing ceremony is a deliberate provocation to every moderate Palestinian who still believes the conflict can be resolved peacefully, and serves as a declaration that Israel is not interested in peace.”
The invitation to the signing ceremony in Maale Adumim
The Previous Framework Agreement and Development in Maale Adumim
In October 2018, a framework agreement was signed between the Maale Adumim municipality and the Housing Ministry, under which the state committed to invest 338 million shekels in infrastructure for the construction and marketing of thousands of housing units in the city. The agreement was signed shortly after tenders were issued for about 700 housing units in Maale Adumim, which were indeed built in subsequent years. The remainder of the housing units expected under that agreement, however, were not realized.
The new framework agreement comes after the publication last month of tenders for 3,300 housing units in the area between Maale Adumim and the Mishor Adumim industrial zone, in line with plans approved a few months earlier. The Housing Ministry statement notes that the agreement signed today also includes construction based on the plans recently approved in E1.
The Road for Palestinians That Will Seal Off the Central West Bank
Alongside the promotion of construction in E1, the government is also advancing the paving of the al-Ezariya–A-Zaayyem road (also called the “Fabric of Life Road” or the “Sovereignty Road”), which will divert Palestinian traffic away from the Maale Adumim and E1 area to an alternative route. This would enable the government to seal off the central West Bank, an area of about 2.5 percent of the West Bank, to Palestinians.
It is worth noting that even in the previous framework agreement, the parties agreed “to act jointly with the Defense Ministry to secure approval for funding the Fabric of Life Road” (section 15.2). Now, after the government has decided to allocate the budget for the road, it appears construction can move forward, together with the development plans for Maale Adumim and E1.
